Compared with traditional thermoelectric materials, layered oxyselenide thermoelectric materials consist of nontoxic and lower-cost elements and have better chemical and thermal stability. Recently, several studies on n-type layered oxyselenide thermoelectric materials, including BiCuSeO, Bi2O2Se and Bi6Cu2Se4O6, were reported, which stimulates us to comprehensively summarize these researches. In this short review, we begin with various attempts to realize an n-type BiCuSeO system. Then, we summarize several methods to optimize the thermoelectric performance of Bi2O2Se, including carrier engineering, band engineering, microstructure design, et al. Next, we introduce a new type of layered oxyselenide Bi6Cu2Se4O6, and n-type transport properties can be obtained through halogen doping. At last, we propose some possible research directions for n-type layered oxyselenide thermoelectric materials.
Keywords: Bi2O2Se; Bi6Cu2Se4O6; BiCuSeO; n-type oxyselenide; thermoelectric.